The need to foster employability and management skills has emerged, and the educational world has taken considerable note of it. Industry wants 'Freshers with Perfection', which somehow seems difficult. Hence, being students, need to maximise their learning and gain as much exposure as possible.
On the other hand, the industry needs to be a bit moderate with them. Orientation into the new world has to be facilitated, and this transition has to be a learning experience rather than a shock. Business Managers play a significant role in this, and so do their communication strategies.
There are three words that we need to understand before we start a discussion on the titled subject:
- Business
- Communication
- Managers
Business is commonly known and understood as the activity of making, buying, selling or supplying goods or services for money. (Oxford ALD) It speaks of commerce and trade. Hence, we can explain it as an organised approach to providing customers/audience with the goods and services they demand or want. The word business also refers to an organisation that provides these goods and services. The prime objective for most businesses is to make a profit - that is, they aim to achieve revenues that exceed the costs of operating the business. The activity of transportation of goods and exchange of services is integral to business, and the participants attempt to gain more out of these exchanges and transportations.
Communication: We have been doing communication since the inception of life and civilisation. Communication has developed into a domain of learning and has been acknowledged as a skill to master. Basically, it remains an exchange of information and meanings which gets completeness when desired feedbacks are generated. Communication aims at three acts: Inform, Persuade, and Entertain. The first two are considered to be at the core of Business activity, and the third comes to work when we see the throat-cut competition in the business world. We shall be feeling more for ‘communication’ when we relate it to business and with ‘Managers’.
Communication is classified into various types: Verbal and Non-verbal, Personal and Business. When we discuss organisational communication or business communication, the flow of communication categorises it into various forms. There are communication structures and communication cultures in business organisations:
- Upward/Vertical
- Downward
- Horizontal
- Spiral or Diagonal
Formal Communication lines in an organisation are made of:
Line Relationships
Functional Relationships
Staff Relationships
Informal and Interpersonal communication exists and plays a very significant role for managers. Chats and Grapevine (unofficial version of news) exist and are needed to strengthen the communication system. Theoretically, the network of formal communication may be adequate to meet the needs of exchanging information within an organisation. But, in real life, this is seldom true. Sometimes employees modify the formal methods of communication to get the complete information. This is what grapevine is- an Informal but ‘reliable’ channel for employees, developed by them.
The presence of grapevine shows that the management has missed an opportunity to share information of interest with their employees. However, the grapevine may create workplace complications, and the information system may get disturbed gradually. The manager has to keep the first communication channel active and must work to minimise the establishment of this parallel-secondary channel.
Managers: This write-up is meant for those who are Managers in the making. While deliberating on the term ‘Manager’, we find some characteristics which are identified with the persona of a good manager: A Manager makes the optimum use of the resources at hand. With planning, preparation, performance, and analysis, a manager brings the best to the business. MS Encarta suggests various meanings:
- Organiser of Business
- The organiser of Somebody's Business Affairs
- The organiser of the Affairs of the Athlete/Sports Team
- Competent Handler of Situations
After looking at the above descriptions of a Manager, we can conclude that a Manager is a person who does Management. Who brings the things in hand to an ‘organised state’. Now, what is management? We can happily say- Management is What Managers do!
Role of Communication in Business Management and Making of Managers
We try to Understand Why Communication Matters.
There are various functions that Business Management needs to perform, and communication is one of it needs. There will be no denial of the fact that Business management happens through communication management.
The basic functions of management are planning, forecasting, organising resources, instructing, coordinating, controlling, selecting skilled workforce, crisis management, improving stakeholders relations, awareness among employees, stronger decision making, increased productivity, brand management, public relations management, and healthier business relations with other market players. There is no end to the managerial profile.
Recognising the importance of communication in organisations, it is not surprising that managers spend 80% of their time communicating. Let us read the excerpt from P.D. Chaturvedi on How Communication is Used by Managers:
Management is a unified, organised and cooperative system committed to the achievement of common goals. Unity of purpose and commitment to a single organisational goal can be developed only through the persuasive power of communication. To do this, a manager needs to have excellent communication skills, including the ability to structure information according to its negative/affirmative nature and use words and tone according to the purpose of the communication.
A manager should be able to create the desired relationship with the audience or employees to produce the needed response. Thus, diverse strategies, verbal and non-verbal, of effective communication form an important part of management as a discipline.
From a small business to a multinational enterprise, every organisation today needs an effective communication system to enable it to function and flourish. Communication is a means of:
- Increasing employees’ job performance and effectiveness by updating their knowledge
- Promoting employees’ sense of belonging and commitment
- Effecting changes smoothly
- Motivating employees and creating a sense of identification with the organisation’s goals
- Informing and convincing employees about decisions and the reasons behind them
- Helping employees develop a clear understanding of their roles and growth opportunities within the organisation
- Empowering employees with information on development and activities
As analysed by Henry Mintzberg of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, managers need effective communication to perform in the following interrelated situations:
- Interpersonal
- Informational
- Decisional
Along with the above explanation of the importance of Business Communication, the ‘managers in making’ need to take a comprehensive view of the subject they need to study. Doing management studies in any of the disciplines requires business communication skills, be it HR, Marketing, Retail Management, Financial Management, International Business or any other. One must know that:
- Communication is Important to Your Career
- Communication is Important to Your Company
There is a question that we shall be brought to a logical conclusion:
What Makes Business Communication Effective?
What is the Role of Cultural Communication Skills in Management?
How to get the maximum from Informative and Persuasive Purpose/Functions of Business Communication?
